With last Friday’s victory over Hayden, the Emporia High girls basketball team wrapped up the first month of its season much the same as it began.
Five games into the season, and the loss column is still blank for the Lady Spartans.
The 5-0 and No. 2-ranked EHS girls have met and passed a myriad of challenges that they’ve faced so far, defeating a pair of Kansas City-area schools (Olathe North and Olathe East), a State qualifier from a year ago (Gardner-Edgerton), an up-and-coming, youth-laden squad (Topeka High) and a physically superior, State-caliber team (Hayden).
The obvious concern is that with a two-week layoff until Emporia’s next game, what will the time off do for the team’s momentum?
After the 11-point win over previously unbeaten and 10th-ranked Hayden, junior guard Alli Armitage made it clear the Lady Spartans were expecting to pick up right where they left off — and then some.
“We’re so pumped up,” Armitage said. “Being on a break, that gets us even more excited. We’ll come back to practice ready to work hard. Hopefully, we’ll play in January just as good as we have so far.”
Playing well in January would mean several Lady Spartans would have to continue the impressive seasons they’ve already begun crafting.
Leading the way in scoring is senior Nichole Naab, a player that coach Bill Nienstedt said “just puts the ball in the basket.” Naab is scoring at a 16.4 points per game clip and appears well on her way to leading EHS in scoring for the third year in a row.
Perhaps gone unnoticed in her offensive skill set is the defense Naab has been playing this season. In no other area has Naab improved more over the last few years, as evidenced by her defensive effort against Hayden’s Aubree Lubbe. Lubbe entered the contest averaging 15.3 points per game, but Naab guarded her for most of the night in man-to-man defense and held her to 11 points on just 4-of-12 shooting.
Naab has gotten plenty of scoring help from her teammates, as Sadie Webb also is in double figures at 11.8 points per game, while Lexi Hileman and Lindy Arndt chip in 8.8 and 7.6 points per game, respectively.
Hileman also leads the team in rebounding with 7.6 rebounds a contest.
The biggest key to Emporia High’s success after the new year might be its bench, which has produced in big ways so far in the early going. Three players that have contributed the most in game situations have been guards Brittany Meza and Rachelle VanGundy and forward Hilary Heinrichs.
Add in that Nienstedt has upped the stakes in practice lately, and its clear that the Lady Spartans are working toward a much bigger goal than a 5-0 start.
“I think it’s so important that your kids believe that they have worked harder and maybe deserve to win in these types of games,” Nienstedt said following the victory over Hayden.
The schedule out of the gate for the Lady Spartans sees EHS play host to Topeka West (Jan. 4) and Highland Park (Jan. 8) before Emporia’s first road game of the year at Junction City (Jan. 11).
EHS boys still searching for another offensive threat
For the Emporia High boys (3-3), the biggest task they face coming out of the break might be finding a solid, reliable fourth scorer.
Most of Emporia’s offense flows through its big three — the three returning starters off last year’s squad.
Senior Caydrick Bloomquist leads the team at 21.3 points per game, junior Taylor Euler is adding 12.3 points per game while senior Troy Pierce is chipping in 8.8 points a contest. Pierce also is the team’s leading rebounder (8.3 rpg).
But as evidenced by Emporia’s loss to Hayden last Friday, when those three aren’t scoring like they’re used to, the Spartans have a hard time keeping up.
Bloomquist scored 21 points against Hayden, but the three-point specialist was 0-for-10 from behind the three-point line. Euler finished right around his average as well against the Wildcats with 14 points, but scored just two points in the first half, as did Pierce, who finished with eight points.
Right now, the top option to help the Spartans on the offensive end might be sophomore Greg Canales, who is averaging just 5.5 points per game but has shown a decent shooting touch from 10 feet and in. Also, Jacob Torres and Brandon Childs each could become more of a factor offensively.
The silver lining on Emporia’s three losses might be that the three teams the Spartans have lost to all could compete for their respective State titles.
EHS coach Rick Bloomquist has been adamant that Tulsa Memorial is one of the top teams in Oklahoma, while Leavenworth is ranked third in Class 6A and Hayden is the No. 1-ranked team in Class 4A.
The Spartans will get a chance to see what they’ve learned from their tough early-season matchups, as they resume play with a home game against Topeka West (Jan. 4) before playing host to Class 5A’s top-ranked team, Highland Park (Jan. 8).
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